David Boren
is the 13th President of the
University of Oklahoma.
He is unique in state history in having served Oklahoma as OU President,
state legislator, state Governor, and U.S. Senator.
Dr. Boren graduated Yale University in 1963, where he majored in American history,
graduated in the top one percent of his class, and was elected Phi Beta Kappa.
He was selected as a Rhodes Scholar and earned a master's degree in politics,
philosophy and economics from Oxford University in 1965.
In 1968, he received a law degree from the OU College of Law, where he was on
the Law Review, elected to the Order of the Coif, and won the Bledsoe Prize as
the outstanding graduate by a vote of the faculty.
Under Dr. Boren's leadership, the University of Oklahoma has developed and
emerged as a pacesetter American university,
with 20 major new programs initiated since his inauguration.
They include establishment of the Honors College, the Charles M. Russell Center
for the Study of Art of the American West, a new expository writing program for
freshmen modeled on the program at Harvard, an interdisciplinary religious
studies program, the Artist-in-Residence Program, the International Programs
Center, and the Faculty-in-Residence Program putting faculty family apartments
in student residence halls.
The Retired Professors Program has been started, bringing 50 retired full
professors back to the University to teach freshmen.
The number of new facilities started or completed on the campus during his tenure
has matched the explosion in new programs. Since 1994, almost $1 billion in
construction projects have been completed or are under way on OU's three
campuses.
Among the largest of the recent projects are the $18.7 million renovation and
expansion of historic Holmberg Hall, home of music and dance programs;
the $67 million National Weather Center;
the $19 million addition to the Michael F. Price College of Business;
the $17 million Gaylord Hall for journalism and mass communication;
the $27 million Stephenson Research and Technology Center;
and the $83.5 million stadium project.
The Health Sciences Center has a new Student Union,
and the new $24 million Stanton L. Young Biomedical Research Center.
Presidential Travel Scholarships, students from 111 countries on campus,
more reciprocal international exchange agreements than any other university
and the new International Programs Center are all making OU more international.
The new Honors College helps to assure that no students need to leave
Oklahoma to find an educational experience to match their potential.
Above all, his tenure has been marked by an emphasis on putting students first.
There is not a university president in the country that is more committed to students
as his number one priority.
He teaches a freshman-level course in political science each semester and is one
of the few presidents of major universities to teach.